A federal court authorized issuance of subpoenas to more than a dozen government officials to testify in the case of two former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, who are accused of unauthorized transmission and disclosure of classified information.

According to the defense, the testimony of the subpoenaed officials will show that the defendants did "nothing more than the well-established official Washington practice of engaging in 'back channel' communication with various non-governmental entities and persons for the purpose of advancing U.S. foreign policy goals."

The government disputes that claim and says such testimony is irrelevant to whether the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to obtain and disclose classified information.

The court ruled, however, that circumstantial evidence of the use of "back channel" communications could be probative of the defendants' state of mind and could show a lack of criminal intent.

Judge T.S. Ellis III therefore authorized issuance of subpoenas to the following officials:

Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State (then-National Security Advisor)

Richard Armitage, former Deputy Secretary of State

William Burns, U.S. Ambassador to Russia

Marc Grossman, former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs

Lawrence Silverman, Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy to the Slovak Republic

Matthew Bryza, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State

Marc Sievers, Political Officer, U.S. Embassy to Israel

David Satterfield, Senior Advisor to the Secretary of State and Coordinator for Iraq (then-Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs)